The British Museum is an endlessly fascinating place. You can -- as we did -- race through it in a few hours and get a sampling of interesting artifacts from cultures all over the world and all throughout history. But if I actually lived in England, I could easily imagine going there more regularly, just to take more time on specific parts of the museum. There's just a ton to see.
The two largest parts of the museum are devoted to ancient Egypt and Greece. The Egyptian collection includes the actual Rosetta Stone, which was the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics.
But that's just the centerpiece of a vast array of sarcophagi, huge statues, painted pottery, and other miscellaneous artifacts.
The Greek section of the British Museum, meanwhile, is where you can go to see the Parthenon. Sort of. Yes, the crumbling temple still stands in Athens, and would certainly be a cool thing itself to see in person. But when the British Empire stormed through in the height of its power, they removed from the building most of the carved frescoes that ringed the upper edge. That part of the Parthenon is now on display at the museum.
We took a break for lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant, but went back to spend a total of probably four hours at the museum. I took more pictures there than I think I did at any other place on the trip and, as I said, could easily have enjoyed even more time there to read in detail about the significance of all the objects.
I'll just share a few of the goofier pictures here before signing off for this post.
The dreaded Centaur Noogie:
An Egyptian boardwalk fortune teller machine:
Man's first performance of the Hokey Pokey:
A South American example of a French kiss:
A truly unconventional yoga posture:
And Gollum?
In all, a lot to contemplate:
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